Ah, the musical review.  I’ve written in the past that it’s not one of my favorite theater genres.  Although murder comedies are my most loathed of stage productions, musical reviews are pretty close.  All too often, they’re an attempt to throw together a show using the music of one artist and use those songs to tell his or her life.  And, all too often, they don’t work that way.  They come together as too contrived, as trying too hard to be a show when a show they shouldn’t be.  When I think musical review, I think monotony, a night of all songs by one artist.

Not so with Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Musical, however!  This review takes the songs of the Man in Black, strings them together and adds tidbits about his life throughout.  It isn’t a staged telling of his life’s story.  It’s more like VH1’s Storytellers, but with more dramatic performances.  And I loved it!

While Ring of Fire was fall into a but of monotony, it’s not nearly as monotonous as other musical reviews made into life stories because there’s not one actor playing Johnny Cash.  There are several.  And they’re not actually playing Johnny Cash.  They’ll say, “I’m Johnny Cash,” but they’re not trying to channel him.  Each offers his or her own personality to the performances without a pretentions attempt to be the Man in Black.

And that has a lot to do with what makes Circa 21’s production of Ring of Fire so delightful.  Circa’s cast is filled with true and varied talents, none of which I found weak nor distracting.  There are those who come closer to the sound of Cash’s songs (Steve Lasiter and Lexie Wollan).  But, there are also those who just get out their and have a good time with his music (Tristan Layne Tapscott and Kimberly Furness).  And, a few cast members bring their own unique style, which doesn’t match Johnny Cash in the slightest, with no apologies (Tom Walljasper).  And, it works!

The show and Circa’s production are nice.  Simply nice.  As I sat watching, that’s the word that kept coming to mind.  If I were to sum up this production in one word, what would that word be?  My mind kept coming back to nice.  And I mean that in a positive light.  It’s a smile from ear to ear, let’s just enjoy the music of Johnny Cash, nice.

The set is simply, yet interesting and versatile.  And the lighting is remarkable, particularly the effects used on the sun/moon in the background, with colors, shapes and movement used to convey the varying moods of each song.

Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Musical runs through March 21 at Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island.  Tickets are available by calling the box office at (309) 786-7733 or through the theater’s website — circa21.com.